Midori Ito | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Midori Ito

cathlen

Team Gorgeous Cacti!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 2, 2015
Country
Poland
Reposting, since video is good quality and she's worth it!
Yeah, I remember that Tonya's great 3A just like yesterday.
But then you should watch this Midori's perfect performance from NHK in 1989
with 7 clean super high triples including flying 3A.

https://youtu.be/786iaNxX968

I still cannot get over someone saying earlier on this thread that Midori was a very slow & labored skater.

The height of her jumps :love:
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Country
United-States
She is so amazing. I'm assuming we'll never see anyone like her in my lifetime. It was a privilege to enjoy her performances.
 

redprint

Spectator
Joined
Nov 27, 2016
You know actually she's now teaching in the city I'm currently at, Kitakyushu.
The problem is for me to participate in one of her classes I gotta pay 8000 yen per session or roughly 70 USD.

I really wanna go, but... yeah
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
You know actually she's now teaching in the city I'm currently at, Kitakyushu.
The problem is for me to participate in one of her classes I gotta pay 8000 yen per session or roughly 70 USD.

I really wanna go, but... yeah

:(. May be just one class to know her.
 

Warwick360

Medalist
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
I'm glad that this thread exists. I was going through one of those days where one ends up on a youtube watching marathon of skaters, and I felt ashamed how limited I had kept myself despite thinking of myself of a big fan of Midori, by only watching videos mostly post- 88 Olympics.

Especially amazed how much of a person born in the wrong time that she truly was. If one wasn't aware of the difference in the judging system now and then I think one would be left baffled how she did not fare as well as one would have thought she would....World 87 for example ( SP, LP), Or even Worlds 1986 (SP, LP)...to name a few. Even more baffled how good she already was in Skate Canada '84.

Truly a woman ahead of her time (not that one needed mentioning it), who truly got damned by the figures and the scoring system. :slink:
 
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4everchan

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Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
I'm glad that this thread exists. I was going through one of those days where one ends up on a youtube watching marathon of skaters, and I felt ashamed how limited I had kept myself despite thinking of myself of a big fan of Midori, by only watching videos mostly post- 88 Olympics.

Especially amazed how much of a person born in the wrong time that she truly was. If one wasn't aware of the difference in the judging system now and then I think one would be left baffled how she did not fare as well as one would have thought she would....World 87 for example ( SP, LP), Or even Worlds 1986 (SP, LP)...to name a few. Even more baffled how good she already was in Skate Canada '84.

Truly a woman ahead of her time (not that one needed mentioning it), who truly got damned by the figures and the scoring system. :slink:

still the best jumper ever in ladies
 

liv

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Totally the best jumper, technician, ever, by a long shot. Imagine what she could do in the day and age... she would be driven to do even more with that 3A of hers...
 

Warwick360

Medalist
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
Also, I think I forgot to mention what an underrated spinner she was and still is. People compare her positions to today's ladies who are virtual contortionists, but fail to recognise how much of a pioneer or a competitor of sorts she was in that department too. The speed, the centering and the grace of it all too.

I still remember how the commentators were excited about her doing a flying sit spin (let alone the fact that it was a death drop entry).

Also, her foot work, which I thought too were very underrated. The stuff she does with the toe pick and the quickness of her feet is just awe-inspiring.

The only thing that came out maybe not of a good standard was probably her spiral when compared side by side to Yamaguchi and maybe the occasional low leg on her camel spin. But still, like Yuna's arabesque which improved every year in the lead up to Vancouver, I thought the same for Midori in lead up to Albertville. Not great, but much much better. This was '88.....and this was 92

As much as I might be extolling about Midori today, I still feel it's not enough. :hopelessness:
 

liv

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Yup, video footage shows it clear as day. I have seen that video before. I was a big fan of hers back in the day. The 6.0 system was not kind to her when you look back at the skaters who defeated her, with the jumps they had. I can only imagine the huge scores her Halifax free program would have garnered compared to eventual winner Jill Trenary under the current system. She would have leapfrogged everyone to win, no doubt.

As time goes by and still no one comes close, you realize how special she truly was. I am beginning to think there will never be anyone who can jump like she did.

I find that younger generations see the older era skaters through the lenses of today ( to be expected), without realizing how these legends were compared to their peers. I think you have to watch an entire competition to understand exactly why they are touted so highly. It us because of these pioneers that today's skaters do what they do now.
 
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Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
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Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Midori Ito was a queen. I was always more of the artistry side of things with my skating, but I idolized her jumping skills, and became quite a decent jumper with that motivation. ;) Finally it was okay to not be a fancy, fragile princess skater.:rock:
 

DelRetiro

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Totally the best jumper, technician, ever, by a long shot. Imagine what she could do in the day and age... she would be driven to do even more with that 3A of hers...

To think, 25 years later after Midori hit that astonishing 3A in Albertville, no one in the Helsinki ladies' competition landed a 3A. Yes, absolutely, Midori was the best jumper & technician ever. And as someone else mentioned, the height of her jumps relative to her height was and will forever remain unequaled.
 

Globetrotter

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
i think if the current scoring system were adapted in her years, how high tes would be.:laugh:

Oh if it was CoP scoring in Albertville 1992, she would have won the FS over Yamaguchi. I don't think Yamaguchi's smallish jumps would have scored well in GOEs and Midori's transitions and strong edges would have gotten her much higher SS and TR. Ito was virtually the prototype CoP skater who came too early. None of the 3A ladies can match her for the jumps and the only other lady who came close to her jump wise was Tonya Harding.
 

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
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Jan 29, 2007
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Finland
Nice you had also thread for her. I was just some weeks ago thinking about it. My all time favourite number 1 and I won't live so long nobody will beat it. Somebody had written to some of the youtube video's comment field "it is not jumping, it is flying". Artistic scores were always too low. World was not ready to a lady who had both. And how she behaved after the programs, lovely. And this famous fall (well, she was human): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFeo-jMJSlg After the program she goes to find out if the cameraman is ok.

Edit: I had forgotten those nasty compulsory figures, which skaters had to do those times. The best skaters were off the podium because of them. I never really understood the meaning, rules or anything else about them, but well, it was the old times.
 
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Warwick360

Medalist
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
Edit: I had forgotten those nasty compulsory figures, which skaters had to do those times. The best skaters were off the podium because of them. I never really understood the meaning, rules or anything else about them, but well, it was the old times.

One of the comments I saw on the video from her junior days, sort of implied that she may have had eye sight problems which may have contributed to the poor Figures. While it may or may not be true, I too am glad it's gone. Not simply because of the strange podium placements but also I can't imagine how dull of a sequence it must be to have to go through that, or to watch.

Also, another strange thing I heard when watching Midori's video was how one of the commentator (I think British), claimed that she would sort of telegraph the jumps before hand, compared to the other girls. Funny because, most other girls only did toe loops and Salchows, but even more ridiculous when Midori would throw the transitions that she did into her jumps, like the counter before the 2A, and the spread eagle before the 3L. :disapp:
 

marlet

Rinkside
Joined
May 12, 2015
Midori is my favourite lady figure skater, I still watch her programs all the time, her jumps were amazing, she really enjoyed skating, and her smile was so contagious, I sometimes wonder what would happen if she was born in this generation with the current system, but I guess is ok, she was incredible in her time and very unique, and a legend no matter what
 
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